The magical truck that has all the airplane parts stopped by today to deliver an order from Wicks.  Since Wicks had a 10%-off special on all things composite for February I pulled the trigger on another gallon of West epoxy for the final finishing of this bird.  I also ordered something that I thought I had on-hand, but after my recent 100% inventory of EVERYTHING, I realized I didn’t: a piece of 1/4″ diameter x 0.028″ wall 4130 steel tube.

What is this used for you might astutely ask?  Why, my “new” roll trim system.

But first, you may remember that back in June 2013, my good friend, fellow Long-EZ builder, and MASTER machinist, Marco, made me the metal parts for my standard plan’s version roll trim.  From various Canardian PIREPs roll trim is not used a lot and I wanted to keep the plane as light as possible.  Then later, some other Canardians I spoke with talked about the inconvenient location of the plans positioned roll trim lever (read, at right-thigh seat level…not good for someone with more robust thighs!).  A few ingenious builders from the Old Guard had clever workarounds to make the roll trim more mechanically user-friendly… and much better ergonomically.

But after a fair amount of thought I came to the conclusion to strive for K-I-S-S.  I have a very nice, capable china-hat trim switch on a cool Infinity stick, so why not use it for both trims: pitch & roll.  Yes, it may mean literally a few extra ounces, so I’m doing the weight rationalization dance (kind of like ordering dessert after a big meal!), but the simplified operationally convenience will optimize cockpit management in my opinion.

I looked at a myriad of different roll trim ideas out there, many using the “omega”-shaped composite spring (“Wright/Hanka Spring”) firewall aft, but I figured I would try out Waiter’s (aka John McAvoy) Roll Trim System as he describes on his site IFlyEZ.com.  Since nearly all plans for EZ Roll Trim systems revolve around the most expensive item involved: the Ray Allen RAC T2-10A servo, then I’m out literally $10 in parts if I want to switch to the Wright-Hanka style trim spring in case I don’t care for Waiter’s system.  A contributing reason for my choosing Waiter’s system is its location just aft of the pilot’s seat, in some real estate that isn’t being used for anything else.

Also, although this system is light (9.5 oz vs. plan’s roll trim of 4 oz), it still puts the weight of the components forward of the firewall rather than behind it.

With my decision made, I plan to knock this out in the next day or so.